❶製作 (ㄓˋ ㄗㄨㄛˋ) (zhi4 zuo) is the version of “to make, to produce” that is used for intangibles, such as writing books or making movies. If something tangible is being made, such as bread or cars, the verb 做 (ㄗㄨㄛˋ) (zuo4) is used.

❷ This is a case where the tone for 不 (ㄅㄨˋ) (bu4)

as in

不方便 (ㄅㄨˋ ㄈㄤ ㄅㄧㄢˋ) (bu4 fang1 bian4)

不可以 (ㄅㄨˊ ㄎㄜˊ ㄧˇ) (bu4 ke2 yi3)

changes to 2nd tone and becomes 不 (ㄅㄨˊ) (bu2) because the following verb is 4th tone.

as in

不過 (ㄅㄨˊ ㄍㄨㄛˋ) (bu2 guo4)

不是 (ㄅㄨˊ ㄕˋ) (bu2 shi4)

不要 (ㄅㄨˊ ㄧㄠˋ) (bu2 yao4)

❸ It is part of the word/character combination that the concept of language is specified, even in contexts where in English it is assumed that a language is being spoken of when only the national or ethnic adjective is used. Thus, in Chinese, they are always specifying whether they are talking about the

Chinese language 中文 (ㄓㄨㄥ ㄨㄣˊ) (zhong1 wen2),

the Chinese country 中國 (ㄓㄨㄥ ㄍㄨㄛˊ) (zhong1 guo2), or

the Chinese people 中國人 (ㄓㄨㄥㄍㄨㄛˊ ㄖㄣˊ) (zhong1 guo2 ren2).

❹ When using the Chinese word 比較 (ㄅㄧˇ ㄐㄧㄠˋ) (bi3 jiao4) for “to compare,” both characters are used if speaking of a general, non-specific comparison, such as

你比較高。

(你)(比較)(高)

(ㄋㄧˇ) (ㄅㄧˇ ㄐㄧㄠˋ) (ㄍㄠ)

(ni3) (bi3 jiao4) (gao1)

(you) (comparatively) (tall)

You are comparatively tall.

But if you are comparing two things to each other, only the first character, 比 (ㄅㄧˇ) (bi3), is used, as in

你比我高

(你)(比)(我)(高)

(ㄋㄧˇ) (ㄅㄧˇ) (ㄨㄛˇ) (ㄍㄠ)

(you) (compared to) (me) (tall)

You are taller than me. or You are tall compared to me.

❺ I refer to 的 (ㄉㄜ˙)(de.) as an adjective marker, because in the broadest sense, that is what it is. However, what that means is that it is translated in what may seem to be unrelated ways, unless you remember that in English

possessives are adjectives (describing something according to who owns it, such as saying “my” or “his” or adding an “apostrophe ‘s'”),

that adding “-ed” to a verb can make it an adjective (such as “it was a much loved book”), and

some adjectives are simply words that describe, such as color, height, warmth.

Also, since Chinese does not have prepositional phrases, Chinese grammar uses the adjective structure more in a way that might sound old English to our modern ears. For instance, the sentence this note is from might be read:

Often my husband’s liked television programs with my liked television programs are not the same.